Earthquake Strikes Northern Italy for Second Time This Week

An earthquake of magnitude-5.3 struck northern Italy, the second such tremor in a week in the region.

The latest quake, which was felt by people in Turin, Genoa, Bologna and Milan, occurred at just before 4 p.m. local time on Thursday.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake’s epicenter was 22 miles southwest of Parma and 56 miles east of Genoa. Also, the tremor occurred 6.2 miles below the surface.

No damages or injuries. have been reported.

A quake of magnitude-5.1 quake hit the area on Wednesday.

The table started shaking, at first I thought it was me,” Paolo Forlani, an employee of the Johns Hopkins university in Bologna, told Reuters.

“Then I saw the water in the bottle moving, but it wasn't that strong. People on the ground floor felt nothing. But while the last one on Wednesday was quite short-lived, this one was more protracted.”

Smaller aftershocks have also been recorded. The Italian railway company Trenitalia said its train service between Milan and Bologna was briefly interrupted by the tremors.

We have reports of concrete frames fallen from buildings, but nothing particularly serious at the moment, said an official at the national fire department in a statement.

All our men are checking the sites.

The last major quake in Italy killed almost 300 people in April 2009 in the town of central Italian town of L'Aquila. That quake was a magnitude-6.3.

The worst Italian earthquake of the modern era killed an estimated 72,000 people in the southern town of Messina in December 1908.

That disaster, which also involved a tsunami. wiped out 40 people of Messina’s population and more than one-quarter of the population of the Reggio di Calabria province.